Abstract: This paper presents an architecture of current filesystem
implementations as well as our new filesystem SpadFS and operating
system Spad with rewritten VFS layer targeted at high performance
I/O applications. The paper presents microbenchmarks and real-world
benchmarks of different filesystems on the same kernel as well as
benchmarks of the same filesystem on different kernels – enabling
the reader to make conclusion how much is the performance of
various tasks affected by operating system and how much by physical
layout of data on disk. The paper describes our novel features–most
notably continuous allocation of directories and cross-file readahead
– and shows their impact on performance.
Abstract: Although water only takes a little percentage in the total mass of soil, it indeed plays an important role to the strength of structure. Moisture transfer can be carried out by many different mechanisms which may involve heat and mass transfer, thermodynamic phase change, and the interplay of various forces such as viscous, buoyancy, and capillary forces. The continuum models are not well suited for describing those phenomena in which the connectivity of the pore space or the fracture network, or that of a fluid phase, plays a major role. However, Lattice Boltzmann methods (LBMs) are especially well suited to simulate flows around complex geometries. Lattice Boltzmann methods were initially invented for solving fluid flows. Recently, fluid with multicomponent and phase change is also included in the equations. By comparing the numerical result with experimental result, the Lattice Boltzmann methods with phase change will be optimized.
Abstract: In this paper we evaluated the efficacy of
photodynamic treatment of infected wounds on pig animal model by
diffuse reflectance spectrometry. The study was conducted on fifteen
wounds contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that were
incubated for 30 min with methylene blue solution (c = 3.3 x 10-3 M)
and exposed to laser radiations (λ = 670 nm, P = 15 mW) for 15 min.
The efficiency of photodynamic inactivation of bacteria was
evaluated by microbiological exams and diffuse reflectance
spectrometry. The results of the microbiological exams showed that
the bacterial concentration has decreased from 6.93±0.138
logCFU/ml to 3.12±0.108 logCFU/ml. The spectral examination
showed that the diffuse reflectance of wounds contaminated with
Staphylococcus aureus has decreased from 5.06±0.036 % to
3.36±0.025 %. In conclusion, photodynamic therapy is an effective
method for the treatment of infected wounds and there is a correlation
between the CFU count and diffuse reflectance.
Abstract: In the following text, we show that by introducing
universal kinetic scheme, the origin of rate retardation and inhibition
period which observed in dithiobenzoate-mediated RAFT
polymerization can be described properly. We develop our model by
utilizing the method of moments, then we apply our model to
different monomer/RAFT agent systems, both homo- and
copolymerization. The modeling results are in an excellent
agreement with experiments and imply the validity of universal
kinetic scheme, not only for dithiobenzoate-mediated systems, but
also for different types of monomer/RAFT agent ones.
Abstract: Software maintenance, which involves making enhancements, modifications and corrections to existing software systems, consumes more than half of developer time. Specification comprehensibility plays an important role in software maintenance as it permits the understanding of the system properties more easily and quickly. The use of formal notation such as B increases a specification-s precision and consistency. However, the notation is regarded as being difficult to comprehend. Semi-formal notation such as the Unified Modelling Language (UML) is perceived as more accessible but it lacks formality. Perhaps by combining both notations could produce a specification that is not only accurate and consistent but also accessible to users. This paper presents an experiment conducted on a model that integrates the use of both UML and B notations, namely UML-B, versus a B model alone. The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the comprehensibility of a UML-B model compared to a traditional B model. The measurement used in the experiment focused on the efficiency in performing the comprehension tasks. The experiment employed a cross-over design and was conducted on forty-one subjects, including undergraduate and masters students. The results show that the notation used in the UML-B model is more comprehensible than the B model.
Abstract: Full - Scale Accelerated Loading System, one part of
“the Eleventh - Five - Year National Grand Technology Infrastructure
Program" is a facility to evaluate the performance and service life of
different kinds of pavements subjected to traffic loading under full -
controlled environment. While simulating the environments of frigid
zone and permafrost zone, the accurate control of air temperature, road
temperature and roadbed temperature are the key points and also
aporias for the designment. In this paper, numerical simulations are
used to determine the design parameters of the frozen soil simulation
system. At first, a brief introduction of the Full - Scale Accelerate
Loading System was given. Then, the temperature control method of
frozen soil simulation system was proposed. Finally, by using finite
element simulations, the optimal design of frozen soil simulation
system was obtained. This proposed design, which was obtained by
finite element simulations, provided significant referents to the
ultimate design of the environment simulation system.
Abstract: The Build-Then-Sell (BTS) is a novel system
implemented in Malaysia after a number of complaints have been
received from buyers in the preceding Sell-Then-Build (STB) system.
When the government announced the implementation of the BTS in
2007, proponents of BTS have asserted that the new system will
provide houses with low level of defects. Their argument however is
not supported by any empirical data. Hence, this study is conducted
to evaluate the housing defects in BTS houses. Six BTS residential
areas have been surveyed to collect the defects data. Questionnaires
were administered directly to the occupiers in each of the BTS houses
through door-to-door visits. The result has shown that the rate of
defects for the six residential areas is ranged from minor to slight,
which only affect the aesthetic value of the house.
Abstract: In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in using daylight to save energy in buildings. In tropical regions, daylighting is always an energy saver. On the other hand, daylight provides visual comfort. According to standards, it shows that many criteria should be taken into consideration in order to have daylight utilization and visual comfort. The current standard in Malaysia, MS 1525 does not provide sufficient guideline. Hence, more research is needed on daylight performance. If architects do not consider daylight design, it not only causes inconvenience in working spaces but also causes more energy consumption as well as environmental pollution. This research had surveyed daylight performance in 5 selected office buildings from different area of Malaysian through experimental method. Several parameters of daylight quality such as daylight factor, surface luminance and surface luminance ratio were measured in different rooms in each building. The result of this research demonstrated that most of the buildings were not designed for daylight utilization. Therefore, it is very important that architects follow the daylight design recommendation to reduce consumption of electric power for artificial lighting while the sufficient quality of daylight is available.
Abstract: In this paper, for the first time, a two-dimensional
(2D) analytical drain current model for sub-100 nm multi-layered
gate material engineered trapezoidal recessed channel (MLGMETRC)
MOSFET: a novel design is presented and investigated using
ATLAS and DEVEDIT device simulators, to mitigate the large gate
leakages and increased standby power consumption that arise due to
continued scaling of SiO2-based gate dielectrics. The twodimensional
(2D) analytical model based on solution of Poisson-s
equation in cylindrical coordinates, utilizing the cylindrical
approximation, has been developed which evaluate the surface
potential, electric field, drain current, switching metric: ION/IOFF
ratio and transconductance for the proposed design. A good
agreement between the model predictions and device simulation
results is obtained, verifying the accuracy of the proposed analytical
model.
Abstract: An effective approach for realizing the binary tree structure, representing a combinational logic functionality with enhanced throughput, is discussed in this paper. The optimization in maximum operating frequency was achieved through delay minimization, which in turn was possible by means of reducing the depth of the binary network. The proposed synthesis methodology has been validated by experimentation with FPGA as the target technology. Though our proposal is technology independent, yet the heuristic enables better optimization in throughput even after technology mapping for such Boolean functionality; whose reduced CNF form is associated with a lesser literal cost than its reduced DNF form at the Boolean equation level. For cases otherwise, our method converges to similar results as that of [12]. The practical results obtained for a variety of case studies demonstrate an improvement in the maximum throughput rate for Spartan IIE (XC2S50E-7FT256) and Spartan 3 (XC3S50-4PQ144) FPGA logic families by 10.49% and 13.68% respectively. With respect to the LUTs and IOBUFs required for physical implementation of the requisite non-regenerative logic functionality, the proposed method enabled savings to the tune of 44.35% and 44.67% respectively, over the existing efficient method available in literature [12].
Abstract: In this paper we use the definition of CW basis of a free simplicial algebra. Using the free simplicial algebra, it is shown to construct free or totally free 2−crossed modules on suitable construction data with given a CW−basis of the free simplicial algebra. We give applications free crossed squares, free squared complexes and free 2−crossed complexes by using of 1(one) skeleton resolution of a step by step construction of the free simplicial algebra with a given CW−basis.
Abstract: The impact of a proposed pier on tidal current
alteration was evaluated. The proposed pier location was in Salad
Bay on Koa Kood Island, Trat province, Thailand, and was designed
to accommodate passenger ships with a draft of less than 2 m. The
study began with collecting necessary data, including bathymetric,
water elevation and tidal current characteristics. The impact was
assessed using a software package (MIKE21). Although the results
showed that the pier would affect the existing current pattern, the
change was determined to be insignificant, as the design of the piles
for the pier provided sufficient spacing to let the current flow as
freely as possible. Consequences of the altered current, such as
seabed erosion, water stagnation, sediment deposition and
navigational risk were assessed. Environmental mitigation measures
might be necessary if the impacts were considered unacceptable.
Abstract: Using a force balanced translational-radial dynamics,
phase space of the moving single bubble sonoluminescence (m-
SBSL) in 85% wt sulfuric acid has been numerically calculated. This
phase space is compared with that of single bubble sonoluminescence
(SBSL) in pure water which has been calculated by using the mere
radial dynamics. It is shown that in 85% wt sulfuric acid, in a general
agreement with experiment, the bubble-s positional instability
threshold lays under the shape instability threshold. At the onset of
spatial instability of moving sonoluminescing (SL) bubble in 85%
wt sulfuric acid, temporal effects of the hydrodynamic force on the
bubble translational-radial dynamics have been investigated. The
appearance of non-zero history force on the moving SL bubble is
because of proper condition which was produced by high viscosity of
acid. Around the moving bubble collapse due to the rapid contraction
of the bubble wall, the inertial based added mass force overcomes the
viscous based history force and induces acceleration on the bubble
translational motion.
Abstract: Online learning with Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) is becoming very popular where the system models the student-s learning behavior and presents to the student the learning material (content, questions-answers, assignments) accordingly. In today-s distributed computing environment, the tutoring system can take advantage of networking to utilize the model for a student for students from other similar groups. In the present paper we present a methodology where using Case Based Reasoning (CBR), ITS provides student modeling for online learning in a distributed environment with the help of agents. The paper describes the approach, the architecture, and the agent characteristics for such system. This concept can be deployed to develop ITS where the tutor can author and the students can learn locally whereas the ITS can model the students- learning globally in a distributed environment. The advantage of such an approach is that both the learning material (domain knowledge) and student model can be globally distributed thus enhancing the efficiency of ITS with reducing the bandwidth requirement and complexity of the system.
Abstract: Subcritical water extraction was investigated as a
novel and alternative technology in the food and pharmaceutical
industry for the separation of Mannitol from olive leaves and its
results was compared with those of Soxhlet extraction. The effects of
temperature, pressure, and flow rate of water and also momentum
and mass transfer dimensionless variables such as Reynolds and
Peclet Numbers on extraction yield and equilibrium partition
coefficient were investigated. The 30-110 bars, 60-150°C, and flow
rates of 0.2-2 mL/min were the water operating conditions. The
results revealed that the highest Mannitol yield was obtained at
100°C and 50 bars. However, extraction of Mannitol was not
influenced by the variations of flow rate. The mathematical modeling
of experimental measurements was also investigated and the model is
capable of predicting the experimental measurements very well. In
addition, the results indicated higher extraction yield for the
subcritical water extraction in contrast to Soxhlet method.
Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy
of five herbicides on narrow leaved weeds and growth and yield of
wheat. An experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research
Farm, University of Agriculture Faisalabad. The experiment was
laid out in randomized complete block designee (RCBD) with three
replications. Treatments studied were clodinafop (Topic-15 WG) at
37 g a.i. ha-1, clodinafop (Topaz-15 WG) at 45 g a.i. ha-1,
fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Puma Super-75 EW) at 45 g a.i. ha-1,
fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Gramicide-6.9 EW) at 85 g a.i. ha-1,
fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Chinlima-6.9 EW) at 85 g a.i. ha-1 and weedy
check. Plots treated with fenoxaprop-p-ethyl (Puma Super-75 EW)
at 45 g a.i. ha-1 produced relatively less weed biomass, more plant
height, number of spike bearing tillers, number of grains per spike,
1000-grain weight and grain yield (4.20 t ha-1).
Abstract: An image texture analysis and target recognition approach of using an improved image texture feature coding method (TFCM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) for target detection is presented. With our proposed target detection framework, targets of interest can be detected accurately. Cascade-Sliding-Window technique was also developed for automated target localization. Application to mammogram showed that over 88% of normal mammograms and 80% of abnormal mammograms can be correctly identified. The approach was also successfully applied to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) images for target detection.
Abstract: The main objective of this study was to determine if a
minimal increase in road light level (luminance) could lead to
improved driving performance among older adults. Older, middleaged
and younger adults were tested in a driving simulator following
vision and cognitive screening. Comparisons were made for the
performance of simulated night driving under two road light
conditions (0.6 and 2.5 cd/m2). At each light level, the effects of self
reported night driving avoidance were examined along with the
vision/cognitive performance. It was found that increasing road light
level from 0.6 cd/m2 to 2.5 cd/m2 resulted in improved recognition of
signage on straight highway segments. The improvement depends on
different driver-related factors such as vision and cognitive abilities,
and confidence. On curved road sections, the results showed that
driver-s performance worsened. It is concluded that while increasing
road lighting may be helpful to older adults especially for sign
recognition, it may also result in increased driving confidence and
thus reduced attention in some driving situations.
Abstract: We present a Large-Eddy simulation of a vortex cell
with circular shaped. The results show that the flow field can be sub
divided into four important zones, the shear layer above the cavity,
the stagnation zone, the vortex core in the cavity and the boundary
layer along the wall of the cavity. It is shown that the vortex core
consits of solid body rotation without much turbulence activity. The
vortex is mainly driven by high energy packets that are driven into the
cavity from the stagnation point region and by entrainment of fluid
from the cavity into the shear layer. The physics in the boundary
layer along the cavity-s wall seems to be far from that of a canonical
boundary layer which might be a crucial point for modelling this
flow.
Abstract: This paper provides an exergy analysis of the multistage refrigeration cycle used for C2+ recovery plant. The behavior of an industrial refrigeration cycle with refrigerant propane has been investigated by the exergy method. A computational model based on the exergy analysis is presented for the investigation of the effects of the valves on the exergy losses, the second law of efficiency, and the coefficient of performance (COP) of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle. The equations of exergy destruction and exergetic efficiency for the main cycle components such as evaporators, condensers, compressors, and expansion valves are developed. The relations for the total exergy destruction in the cycle and the cycle exergetic efficiency are obtained. An ethane recovery unit with its refrigeration cycle has been simulated to prepare the exergy analysis. Using a typical actual work input value; the exergetic efficiency of the refrigeration cycle is determined to be 39.90% indicating a great potential for improvements. The simulation results reveal that the exergetic efficiencies of the heat exchanger and expansion sections get the lowest rank among the other compartments of refrigeration cycle. Refrigeration calculations have been carried out through the analysis of T–S and P–H diagrams where coefficient of performance (COP) was obtained as 1.85. The novelty of this article includes the effect and sensitivity analysis of molar flow, pressure drops and temperature on the exergy efficiency and coefficient of performance of the cycle.